STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (WXYZ) — A string of break-ins happened at businesses across metro Detroit. Multiple law enforcement agencies believe it's the work of a single crew working the Thanksgiving holiday.
Sterling Heights police pursed a black Dodge Durango without a license plate on Friday. The crew behind break-ins reportedly used the same vehicle.
"It's estimated that throughout Oakland and Macomb counties, there have been over 25," Troy Police Department Sgt. Ben Hancock said.
Hancock says the majority of them happened between this past Wednesday and Friday night.
Eight restaurants were hit in Troy, including The Maple Leaf Restaurant, the Chipotle Mexican Grill on Crooks Road, The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill, Stoney River Steakhouse and Grill and the Kona Grill, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews.
In Sterling Heights, the Arby's and a gas station on Van Dyke Avenue near Plumbrook Road were targeted.
"The same crew, the same suspect vehicle on the same night already did B&Es earlier already in Shelby Township and Troy," Sterling Heights Police Capt. Mario Bastianelli said.
Bastianelli showed me the dash camera footage from Friday around 1:15 a.m. Officers responding to a break-in alarm at Arby's next to the Shell gas station.
"They pull right on it and you can see the suspects trying to get out of the Shell with a register. As they're coming, they get scared off by our officers because he just pulls up on them, and then they jump into the Dodge Durango and the pursuit is on," Bastianelli said.
You can watch the dashcam video below:
Even with slippery roads due to the snow, the chase clocked in over 100 mph, continued southbound on Utica Road and was terminated at 14 Mile Road due to public safety.
"Continues right through metro, red lights, disregarding anyone's safety," Bastianelli said.
But this was not the crew's first rodeo. On Thanksgiving Day, the owner of The Maple Leaf Restaurant, Eddie Gjetaj, got the shock of his life.
"6:15 (a.m.), the alarm company calls me and they say hey, there's been a break-in at your restaurant," Gjetaj said.
Hear more from Eddie Gjeta, the owner of The Maple Leaf Restaurant, below:
Gjetaj says a few hundred dollars were stolen from the cash register and some change from the back office safe.
"So they crowbarred here. So they just shimmied it open, pulled it and went through," Gjetaj said.
Police are saying that's how all locations were hit: using a crowbar to open the door and going after the cash register and the safe.
"They appear to be three males, they're dressed in all black from head to toe," Hancock said.
In 14 years, Gjetaj says he's never experienced anything like it.
"Never. Never in my wildest dreams would I think we would be broken into. And ironically enough, my uncle's restaurant in Farmington Hills was also broken into the same day about 40 minutes before our restaurant was broken into," Gjetaj said.
Police are working to hold the suspects in the dozens of incidents responsible.
"It's a lot. It's a roll of the dice. They are going to continue to do this thinking that they will get away with it, but it doesn't mean we are not on to them," Bastianelli said.
Sterling Heights police recovered the Dodge Durango, which Bastianelli says was a stolen vehicle and another common practice by such criminals.
The crew is still on the run. If you have any information about the suspects, you are urged to contact the police.
In the meantime, law enforcement urges business owners to avoid keeping large amounts of cash overnight.
